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Former Newport officer, police department face civil rights suit

NEWPORT — A pre-trial hearing of the federal civil rights lawsuit against a former Newport police officer and the Newport Police Department is set for Thursday.

New Hampshire State Prison inmate Thaddeus B. Nye is suing Aaron Aldridge, as well as the Newport Police Department, where Aldridge worked as an officer from 1999 to 2004.

Nye filed the suit in September. Aldridge is currently an inmate at the state prison, serving a sentence for possession of child pornography.

Nye alleges that when he saw Aldridge’s face recently, Nye recalled that when he was a minor, Aldridge arrested him and brought him into custody.

According to the lawsuit, “Nye recalls that at that time, Aldridge ‘overly touched’” Nye; Aldridge kept “going to (Nye’s) pockets,” “looked” around Nye “way too much,” and made sounds or said words Nye could not quite hear, while looking at Nye from behind.

Nye claims Aldridge’s search was a sexual assault, and that the Newport Police Department is liable for failing to prevent Aldridge from sexually assaulting him when he was a minor, a violation of his civil rights.

In a discovery motion filed with the court March 19, Aldridge’s attorneys contend:

“Plaintiff and his family were well known to the Newport Police and plaintiff was often in trouble, including once for making false, racist allegations that he had been kidnapped by a ‘black dude.’ He eventually admitted that he and his brother were just trying to get out of going to school. This may be the runaway incident plaintiff refers to. If at any time plaintiff was frisked by the Newport Police on that occasion or at any other time, it was solely to search for weapons. Nothing inappropriate was ever done and any touching was justified.”

The United States District Court, District of New Hampshire in Concord has set a May 2015 trail for the case.